In hindsight, i should have just copied what I wrote my last night in Dhaka and posted it on here. It is a little more articulate and I think does a slightly better job of describing my feelings about it all:
It is presently 2 AM. I will be leaving Dhaka in 8 hours or so. I have spent 10 days here, much longer than planned. The reasons why are long and boring. Right now I cannot sleep. Why not? Various emotions.
Basically I've had one of the most remarkable experiences of my life. In a span of less than a week, a family has basically adopted me' well, as best as one can adopt an adult. The generosity and kindness they have shown me is out of this world.
You know how many meals I have paid for the past 5 days? Zero. You know how many cups of tea I've been offered and drunk? 50? Bus rides? Two. Pretty much all I have paid for is water, phone cards, and my hotel. The rest has been provided by people who make in 1 year what I make in about a month. The man who has been at the center of it all lives in a room with his 2 daughters and wife. 4 people in a room smaller than my room. Above them is his nephew (the computer genius) in a decent sized room and below them is his mother. Now that I think about it, my hotel room is probably slightly bigger than any of those rooms.
Anyway... The looks they all had was so wonderful. They always had big smiles and were so polite. Shit, I really cannot describe what it was like. Right now I am crying just thinking of my time with them all. They warmth they exuded was just so powerful. Even though only 2 of them speak decent English, I feel like they all would do whatever they could to help me if need be. If I were to pop up at anytime, they would just be all excited and whatnot. And why? Why are they so kind to me? That's the confusing part. Why do they like me so much? What makes them put all this effort into doing things for me? What about me brings out those facial expressions? All I did was follow around one of them because I had plenty of time on my hands and he spoke English. well ok, he also is quite bright and interesting to talk to, but still...
His younger daughter is so, so cute. I was so tempted to give her a big hug tonight. I wanted to just kidnap her and bring her home with me. I think she had a crush on me. 6 yr oldsgenerally dig me for some reason. Her older sister made a shirt to give to a future girlfriend. Lynn and Min are their names. Mother is Leena. Those are some of the easiest names to remember around here. The father is Shaffiullah.
Not sure if I wrote this in the previous entry, and blogger is super slow here, so too lazy to check if I did but my last night there, I met Shaffiullah's nephew, aka the computer genius.
The nephew goes to American Intl. University in the rich part of Dhaka. Takes him an hour or so to go from home to the university. He is a computer science major, so he needs to use his computer a lot. He has a desktop. Well on occasion, he would forget something on his computer back home. Obviously it was a big pain to go back home and get it. He thought, "if only I could access the info on my mobile phone." So what did he do? He invented a program to do it.
I asked him, "isn't there software already out there to do this type of thing?"
"Just windows. Mine also works for Linux, Apple, etc. It is universal."
So how does it work? I have no idea. All i know is I could see his computer screen on his mobile phone, and use the phone like a mouse. I could open up his media player on his computer and play songs on his phone. To say I was blown away would be an understatement.
That wasn't all. He developed a program where you can set up a webcam and get the images from the cam on your phone.
Not bad for a 22 yr old college student in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Oh, he was meeting with some Aussies earlier this week to discuss development of his software. A friend of mine has also strongly recommended he patent it abroad. I have passed along the info.
Showing posts with label Dhaka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dhaka. Show all posts
Friday, May 25, 2007
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
I've been adopted
Here is something I believe falls under the category of irony: so many more events and happenings have occurred here in Bangladesh than anywhere else in my travels yet I find it so hard to write. Before arriving here, I could daily write 2-3 pages about my travels in my journal. Now? If I write more than 1, I've done one hell of a job. On a couple of occassions I have forced myself to write down notes so I do not forget about some of what has happened to me here.
Now why is this the case? I think I am just overwhelmed. That is the easiest explanation. My mind is just dead after a day out and about. when I return to my room, i need to decompress and have my brain shut down for the remainder of the evening. Writing simply takes more energy than I have in myself.
So what have I been up to? Kicking it in Dhaka. Had you told me at the beginning of my trip, or even while I was on my flight here that I would spend 10 full days in Dhaka, I would have either said, "get off the crack rock" or "who am I going to fall in love with?"
Alas, it was neither, although the 2nd answer has a bit of truth in it. There are a variety of reasons, but they're boring and tedious, so I won't go into it. Now what is this love I've hinted at? well you could say I now have relatives in Dhaka. perhaps love is too strong a word, but the bond I have developed with this family has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
who is this family? A (lower?) middle class (by Dhaka standards) family that owns a little- and I do mean LITTLE- store around the corner from the infamous hotel yeameni. I went there to buy water about 3 days after arriving in Dhaka. the shopkeeper spoke a bit of english, which totally shocked me. The hotel employees barely spoke english, a dude going for his master's in english lit spoke rather poorly, yet here was this random shop owner who spoke clear english.
Anyway, 2 days later I returned to once again buy water. This time he was more out-going and asked if I would sit down with him and have some tea. I did. By the end of the night (it was only about an hour later), he told me that he didn't work the next day since it was Friday, and was wondering if we could hang out. i said sure, why not. so we did.
We wandered around old dhaka. We checked out a couple churches and the asitra (star) mosque. He then asked if i would like to stop by his sister's place to meet his wife and two daughters. once again: sure, why not, so we did. His daughters were quite shy but very cute (I think 8 and 11 yrs old).
from that point on, I would stop by his shop on a daily basis and go walk with him when he wasn't at his store. I met all 4 of his sisters, 2 of his brothers, who knows how many nieces and nephews. He bought me at least 25 cups of tea. It might as even be as high as 50, I really can't say.
The last 5-6 days in dhaka, I don't believe I bought a single meal. All my money went towards my hotel and phone cards. Transportation costs? I walked everywhere with this man except for an excursion to his friend's house in the suburb of Mirpur. His friend was as generous as he was and insisted on paying for our bus fares to and from his place.
I'll end this entry with this: I have never, and i mean NEVER encountered such warmth and hospitality. this family treated me like I was a relative while I have only known them for about a week now. Words cannot describe the looks in their faces and the genuine smiles they gave me while I was with them. I am a bit bewildered by it all since the only one I could really communicate with was the shop owner. that being said, I was touched by the fact that when I first met them, none of the women or girls would try to speak english (minus his wife, who tried a little) but my last night there they were much more "daring" for a lack of a better word.
If any of you happen to go to Dhaka (which I highly doubt, but you never know) please tell me and I will give you the phone number of Shafiullah. He would love to meet other foreigners and I guarantee you will have an experience like no other.
Anyway, I'm now in srimangal, the first place I've gone outside the dhaka area. It isn't as nice as Lonely Planet made it out to be. C'est la vie. Not to end this entry on a down-note or anything.
Now why is this the case? I think I am just overwhelmed. That is the easiest explanation. My mind is just dead after a day out and about. when I return to my room, i need to decompress and have my brain shut down for the remainder of the evening. Writing simply takes more energy than I have in myself.
So what have I been up to? Kicking it in Dhaka. Had you told me at the beginning of my trip, or even while I was on my flight here that I would spend 10 full days in Dhaka, I would have either said, "get off the crack rock" or "who am I going to fall in love with?"
Alas, it was neither, although the 2nd answer has a bit of truth in it. There are a variety of reasons, but they're boring and tedious, so I won't go into it. Now what is this love I've hinted at? well you could say I now have relatives in Dhaka. perhaps love is too strong a word, but the bond I have developed with this family has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
who is this family? A (lower?) middle class (by Dhaka standards) family that owns a little- and I do mean LITTLE- store around the corner from the infamous hotel yeameni. I went there to buy water about 3 days after arriving in Dhaka. the shopkeeper spoke a bit of english, which totally shocked me. The hotel employees barely spoke english, a dude going for his master's in english lit spoke rather poorly, yet here was this random shop owner who spoke clear english.
Anyway, 2 days later I returned to once again buy water. This time he was more out-going and asked if I would sit down with him and have some tea. I did. By the end of the night (it was only about an hour later), he told me that he didn't work the next day since it was Friday, and was wondering if we could hang out. i said sure, why not. so we did.
We wandered around old dhaka. We checked out a couple churches and the asitra (star) mosque. He then asked if i would like to stop by his sister's place to meet his wife and two daughters. once again: sure, why not, so we did. His daughters were quite shy but very cute (I think 8 and 11 yrs old).
from that point on, I would stop by his shop on a daily basis and go walk with him when he wasn't at his store. I met all 4 of his sisters, 2 of his brothers, who knows how many nieces and nephews. He bought me at least 25 cups of tea. It might as even be as high as 50, I really can't say.
The last 5-6 days in dhaka, I don't believe I bought a single meal. All my money went towards my hotel and phone cards. Transportation costs? I walked everywhere with this man except for an excursion to his friend's house in the suburb of Mirpur. His friend was as generous as he was and insisted on paying for our bus fares to and from his place.
I'll end this entry with this: I have never, and i mean NEVER encountered such warmth and hospitality. this family treated me like I was a relative while I have only known them for about a week now. Words cannot describe the looks in their faces and the genuine smiles they gave me while I was with them. I am a bit bewildered by it all since the only one I could really communicate with was the shop owner. that being said, I was touched by the fact that when I first met them, none of the women or girls would try to speak english (minus his wife, who tried a little) but my last night there they were much more "daring" for a lack of a better word.
If any of you happen to go to Dhaka (which I highly doubt, but you never know) please tell me and I will give you the phone number of Shafiullah. He would love to meet other foreigners and I guarantee you will have an experience like no other.
Anyway, I'm now in srimangal, the first place I've gone outside the dhaka area. It isn't as nice as Lonely Planet made it out to be. C'est la vie. Not to end this entry on a down-note or anything.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Dhaka baby dhaka
so I'm in Dhaka. Been here now for 4 whole days. 4 days plus an extra evening. It has been quite an experience.
First evening: arrive at Dhaka Airport (zia intl). Stairway up to immigration is crumbling. Not even sanaa airport had that lovely feature. Quite impressive.
Alas, immigration hall was remodeled and quite clean and well-lit. Sanaa can't claim to have that. the score is even between the two at this point.
Zia scores another point: funny ass immigration dudes. Guy looks at my immigration card, looks up at me and says, "First time to Dhaka?"
"Yes."
"Yeah, Hotel Yeameni, not good. Don't stay there."
"reallly? Zero stars?"
immigration guy next to him: "No [motions below zero]"
Me: "Negative stars?"
Him (laughing): "yes, yes"
Negative stars for dhaka. sounds like i'm in for quite an evening. Someone set me up with hotel room though, so I think i should be ok. Nevertheless, I ask for dude's recommendations. He writes out 4 hotels. I figure if Yeameni (it is yemeni so hey, it has to be good!) really is as bad as these two say, I will go to one of those 4 the next day.
I have been told to walk outside the airport, walk out to the main road, flag down a taxi or bus. Now I'm thinking it will be like a highway and quite big. Uh no. It is about as wide as Lakeside Dr, I am not kidding. The airport is basically surrounded by suburbs. It would be like walking out of Oakland airport and seeing the montclair shopping area across the street. I should have figured that when we were flying into the airport we went right over roofs before landing.
Flagged down taxi. dude used meter, YES! Dude only knew about 5 words of English: boss, drive, USA, love, hope. He kept on calling me boss and saying he hoped to go to USA and drive someday. Over and over- for an hour. Yeah, time really flew let me tell you. Actually my heart did beat pretty quickly due to the insane traffic. I won't even try to describe it right now. you haven't experienced crazy driving until you have been to Bangladesh.
Got to the hotel. tipped the guy BIG time. Not sure why. Because he was nice and didn't take advantage of the fact that I speak no Bangla and had never been here before. And hey, he loved america, so why not right? Ha...
Walked into hotel lobby. Well those immigration dudes must have high standards cause that was the nicest lobby I've seen since Japan, no joke. I have a/c and my own bathroom. For me, that is luxury. And it is cheaper than some places I stayed in Malaysia that were a lot worse. so dhaka immigration, fyi, some of us aren't high rollers like you are.
2nd day: Went to get phone # for here in bangladesh. Long story short: shop keeper showed me around the 'hood, took me to his family's house for lunch. WONDERFUL lamb curry, was fantastic. 11 people crammed into a 6 room apartment. Welecome to bangladesh sean.
It was also the first time on this trip a chick has asked me for my number. Yes, in dhaka of all places, a gal asks for my #. I thought that was supposed to happen in Japan, not in the land of muslims. We have since exchanged text messages.
The last couple days I have gone here, there, and everywhere in the Dhaka area. right now I am writing this from the largest mall in south asia. One hell of a view from the top.
And I will leave it at that for now.
First evening: arrive at Dhaka Airport (zia intl). Stairway up to immigration is crumbling. Not even sanaa airport had that lovely feature. Quite impressive.
Alas, immigration hall was remodeled and quite clean and well-lit. Sanaa can't claim to have that. the score is even between the two at this point.
Zia scores another point: funny ass immigration dudes. Guy looks at my immigration card, looks up at me and says, "First time to Dhaka?"
"Yes."
"Yeah, Hotel Yeameni, not good. Don't stay there."
"reallly? Zero stars?"
immigration guy next to him: "No [motions below zero]"
Me: "Negative stars?"
Him (laughing): "yes, yes"
Negative stars for dhaka. sounds like i'm in for quite an evening. Someone set me up with hotel room though, so I think i should be ok. Nevertheless, I ask for dude's recommendations. He writes out 4 hotels. I figure if Yeameni (it is yemeni so hey, it has to be good!) really is as bad as these two say, I will go to one of those 4 the next day.
I have been told to walk outside the airport, walk out to the main road, flag down a taxi or bus. Now I'm thinking it will be like a highway and quite big. Uh no. It is about as wide as Lakeside Dr, I am not kidding. The airport is basically surrounded by suburbs. It would be like walking out of Oakland airport and seeing the montclair shopping area across the street. I should have figured that when we were flying into the airport we went right over roofs before landing.
Flagged down taxi. dude used meter, YES! Dude only knew about 5 words of English: boss, drive, USA, love, hope. He kept on calling me boss and saying he hoped to go to USA and drive someday. Over and over- for an hour. Yeah, time really flew let me tell you. Actually my heart did beat pretty quickly due to the insane traffic. I won't even try to describe it right now. you haven't experienced crazy driving until you have been to Bangladesh.
Got to the hotel. tipped the guy BIG time. Not sure why. Because he was nice and didn't take advantage of the fact that I speak no Bangla and had never been here before. And hey, he loved america, so why not right? Ha...
Walked into hotel lobby. Well those immigration dudes must have high standards cause that was the nicest lobby I've seen since Japan, no joke. I have a/c and my own bathroom. For me, that is luxury. And it is cheaper than some places I stayed in Malaysia that were a lot worse. so dhaka immigration, fyi, some of us aren't high rollers like you are.
2nd day: Went to get phone # for here in bangladesh. Long story short: shop keeper showed me around the 'hood, took me to his family's house for lunch. WONDERFUL lamb curry, was fantastic. 11 people crammed into a 6 room apartment. Welecome to bangladesh sean.
It was also the first time on this trip a chick has asked me for my number. Yes, in dhaka of all places, a gal asks for my #. I thought that was supposed to happen in Japan, not in the land of muslims. We have since exchanged text messages.
The last couple days I have gone here, there, and everywhere in the Dhaka area. right now I am writing this from the largest mall in south asia. One hell of a view from the top.
And I will leave it at that for now.
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